the zoo

We got a membership to the Greenville zoo a few months ago and we've enjoyed using it. The zoo is about 45 minutes from us and is a small zoo in downtown Greenville. It's a good size for little kids and has tons of playgrounds in and outside of it, which is great. Here's some pictures from a recent morning spent at the zoo. 

One of the highlights of this particular zoo trip was getting to see the new baby giraffe for the first time. This has been a big deal for the Greenville zoo, and it's been fun to follow along. The baby was born in February and we watched the live giraffe cam the day he was born to watch his first day/ first steps. We also submitted name suggestions. Grayson submitted "Gerald" for a boy, and "Giraffey" for a girl. Unfortunately they didn't choose either of those and went with "Tatu" instead. He was excited to see Tatu!

This is Tatu's dad, Walter...

 We were there to see Tatu come outside. He's only on exhibit for a little while each day. 

 Autumn and Tatu

Bowen's birthday

Birthday muffins for the birthday boy!

 I'm not sure what kind of performance this was, but G said he needed his guitar to sing him a birthday song. 

I packed us a picnic lunch and headed to the zoo and playgrounds with the boys for the day. We had the best time!

And on the way home, I swung through Starbucks and picked up a little treat for myself (and some cake pops for the boys for after dinner). I feel like the first birthday is kind of a celebration for myself too :) Celebrating completing a year of nursing and a year of so many routine changes and transitions :) 

I mean, this sweetness in the back seat...

 It was such a sweet, fun day celebrating a year of Bowen's life!

Sumter

We spent the weekend in Sumter last weekend for the first time since all 3 other couples now live there. It definitely made it easier living arrangement wise! The Blalocks were gracious to host us and let us take over their new house... and we had a great time! 

Family spaghetti dinner on Thursday night :)

the big boys

We traded off with the guys and let them go play disc golf and go to Starbucks while we watched the kiddos and then when they got back we went to Starbucks to hang out. 

On Saturday morning we headed to the Riverbanks Zoo. I love that zoo!

We were hoping all the walking around the zoo would send Rach into labor, but no such luck. Come on baby Landon!

and I thought G would just love the giraffes, but I was wrong. He wanted to get away. Anytime we asked him "did you like the zoo? what was your favorite?" he was quick to answer "I did NOT like the giraffes. They were scary." In his defense, they are aggressive and want food and sling their necks/heads around. They are way more intimidating than they look in pictures!

(Bowen had gotten his shirt soaking wet from his water bottle. And despite how we were dressed, it was like 80 degrees. We were all warm.) 

friends weekend

We had our biannual friends weekend this past weekend in Sumter, SC. It was a bit different than usual since we usually go to the beach or camping, but good to have time together. 

Ashley and I showed up on Thursday dressed alike :)

We took a picnic lunch to Swan Lake on Friday.

The ladies were able to slip away to Starbucks for a few hours on Friday afternoon. So good to have quality, undistracted time with these ladies!

 Starting them early with disc golf...

 This weekend was the first of the colder temperatures! We are having to train G to keep on socks, shoes and hats!

Grayson and Lexi are 2 months apart. How cute is Lexi in that picture on the left?! 

 kiddos ready to head to Columbia and the zoo on Saturday

Ashley's aunt hooked us all up with passes to the Riverbanks Zoo. How awesome!

 This was Grayson's first zoo trip. Can't say he was too impressed. But they had pumpkins all over and he thought all of the "balls" everywhere were great. 

 My favorite part were the giraffes. They had a platform where you could get up close with them. They had one that was crazy! You can't tell from the pictures (except for some of our faces), but he was quite jumpy, unpredictable and crazy.

The zoo was really pretty and we were able to see a lot of animals. 

Thanks to the Harpers and Moores for opening their homes to us! Always so thankful for time with these friends!